


lifestyle electric

by letbygones



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Compulsions, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21894358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letbygones/pseuds/letbygones
Summary: Galo knows how to start a fire.Lio knows he can't make him.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 10
Kudos: 113





	lifestyle electric

Lio learned the hard way.

Residency at the firehouse came with little privacy— at least, it was supposed to, when morale was high and employment was generous. But, as Burning Rescue Chief Ignis had explained to him, they'd seen many faces come and go. With a turnover rate that rivaled a college Burger King and a death count too unfortunate to repeat out loud, bunk space had been vacant for years. 

Galo was lucky, Lucia said. At full capacity, the dormitories were filled with two bodies, two beds, and one skinny chipboard closet screwed to the wall with brackets (to be shared equally, in theory). Instead, he had his own room— they all did, now— and he'd never had to know Aina's snoring or the glow of Remi's reptile tank.

"In fact," she told Lio, "We're all lucky as hell Galo showed up this late in the game. I know _I_ sure couldn't live with him!"

(Galo flicked her cheek after that, and she'd given him a wet willy in return.)

But Lio didn't really understand the scope of what she'd meant. Sure, Galo was... A Lot. The guy was big, loud, and outrageous. Lio liked that about him, in the same way he liked the growl of an engine or the choke of exhaust in his throat. So naturally, he'd assumed, Galo's habitat consisted of laundry piles and dirty dishes. A refusal to use headphones, maybe? A natural musk— _we can call it that_ — and a lack of modesty?

After piloting together, they'd been weirdly in sync. Lio figured there weren't many mysteries left to uncover about his new ally. He'd been so sure he had Galo pegged down, in fact, that when they approached the door to his room, he held his breath and prepared for the worst.

God, Lio Fotia hated being wrong.

The room was dark. Galo squeezed ahead of him and fiddled with something on the wall behind the door, and after a loud _click_ the lights flicked on. 

"Sorry. Breaker box," Galo explained with an apologetic smile.

Instead of a mess, his desk space was covered in neatly stacked boxes. The two twin beds were pushed together against the far wall to create something that accommodated his size, and although the blankets were balled up and unmade, the floor around it was pristine. A coffee pot, hot plate, and microwave were each placed near separate outlets, but none of them were plugged in.

"Sorry for the— uh, smell," Galo commented as he let Lio wander inside. "Aina says it reeks in here, but I can't really tell anymore. I _swear_ I use deodorant..."

Lio smirked. Okay, he hadn't been entirely wrong. "It's not that bad. You can't blame people for things outside of their control." His fingers unabashedly traced over the edges of Galo's belongings, stopping to pick up a Nalgene bottle filled with water. Three more were lined up behind it, claiming most of the tiny nightstand's surface area.

"Oh! Those are fun. You can throw 'em real hard and they'll bounce back up, watch—" Galo chuckled, motioning for Lio to hand it over. Though seeing Galo imitate a quarterback was plenty amusing, his mind was busy trying to understand why Galo _needed_ 128oz of water at the ready.

"You get thirsty, huh?" Lio joked. 

Galo failed to catch the bottle on the rebound. "Yeah," he shrugged. "I'm a busy guy. Can't get dehydrated on the job."

"Of course not."

"I'm serious!" Galo smiled, bending over to pick up the bottle, which had rolled under his bed. Lio pulled out the desk chair and sat.

"As am I," he assured him. "It's just." He searched for the right words. "I expected candy wrappers and takeout boxes, not a wellness regime. It's kind of a nice surprise."

Galo wriggled out from under his bed and sat back on his knees. "Oh, trust me, I order a _lot_ of takeout," he nodded. "I just don't leave my trash laying around for too long. It's like. A major fire hazard, you know?"

_Ah._

Lio tucked his legs up and gave the chair a little spin. "I'd say you're pretty safe in a firehouse, at least." He shot Galo a friendly look, but couldn't help diverting his attention back to the appliances. "It's been a while since I used one of those."

"There are more in the kitchen downstairs, but I wanted my own, you know? Convenient n' all." Galo explained, and Lio acutely noticed the change in his tone. "I don't like taking any chances, anyway. Who knows if someone set the power level too high or something? Then what? You go to defrost something and _fwooom!_ " He pantomimed what Lio could only assume was supposed to be combustion.

Then, strangely enough, Galo repositioned himself, all shoulders and bulk compressing into a defensive shape. Lio knew he shouldn't be instigating. He understood what fire meant to those who'd never intimately known it— or, in Galo's case, those who had.

Lio wanted to reassure him, and when he caught Galo staring at him, he started to open his mouth. Galo interrupted him.

"Look. I know it's weird, okay. It's just the way I do things, and I guess it's not exactly normal. But I'm fine with it." His face was bright and honest. 

Lio kept eye contact and blinked first. 

"I'm not judging you, I promise. It's not my place to."

"Good. You're right. It's not."

"Forgive my curiosity," he tried, voice low. "I didn't realize you were serious when you mentioned the whole 'no starting fires' thing. It sounds like a lot to work around. I can empathize with that."

Galo furrowed his brow. "Can you?" And before Lio could bite back, Galo corrected himself. "I meant. Sorry. Like. I just don't understand how. That's how you got stuff done— fire. Objectively speaking, right?"

Lio let his legs drop back down to meet the floor. He leaned forward in his seat, letting whatever hair wasn't tied back fall into his face. He didn't like being combative with Galo, so he had to take a moment to think.

"It's... not always possible to do things the easy way, where we come from," he offered. "Sometimes you have to get creative. If you want to cook a meal, but you don't have a pot. What then?" he asked, raising his gaze to meet Galo's. "If you need to find a way to contact someone in the city, but you don't have a phone. You have to improvise. Maybe even rely on someone else to help you out."

Galo let his head fall back against the edge of his bed. "Yeah," he said, and Lio heard his confusion. He scooched the chair a little closer.

"So. Not everything was easy, and there were certainly things that fire couldn't solve. I can empathize with doing things the hard way. Finding ways to cope." He found himself reaching out to gently tug on one of Galo's hoodie strings. When he wasn't immediately swatted away, he tried picking up the other one as well. They were laughably uneven. "I can see you found a system that works for you, and there's nothing wrong with that."

A moment passed. Lio felt the weight of a conversation gone wrong, and decided it was best to get going, but Galo siiiiighed and pulled him back. 

Lio could lie to himself and say Galo's hand on his own wasn't anything particularly special.

"Hey. Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry for getting defensive," Galo ceded, finally meeting Lio's eyes after a long vacation with the ceiling light. "And... well, thanks, I guess, for not being weird about it. Everyone likes to give me crap for it when they find out, especially for turning off the circuits when I leave, you would not _believe_ —"

"People can be cruel with good intentions," Lio shrugged. "I think they're just worried for you."

"They don't need to be," Galo rolled his eyes, but he cracked a smile. "I'm still alive, aren't I? Let's be real, I'm practically invincible."

Lio shot him a look, but he felt himself soak in Galo's sudden warmth. This man was many things and many emotions all at once. There was a certain energy he put out, almost unpredictable, almost _fragile_ , that made these types of interactions difficult to navigate. _Invincible_ , Lio thought at first, _maybe not_. But he let himself study Galo's face— his arms, his scars, his body— and he nodded, running his fingertips along the top of Galo's knuckles. Something inside him burned again.

"Yeah, actually. I think you are."

**Author's Note:**

> I am expressly interested in Galo's weird parameters of control and what he deems safe for himself or not because WOW is he all over the place
> 
> This fic unfortunately brought to you by my actual anxiety :')  
> Shout out to our maintenance man who still hasn't replaced our sparking outlets


End file.
